Celebrated Canadian vlogger Dave Mani and his wife Tracey left Kenya for home four years after relocating to Nairobi. Mani announced their departure on his socials with a caption of them seated on a plane flying back home. He captioned a second photo with a classic Range Rover which they used to traverse the country being loaded onto a container for shipment to Canada.
The Manis immigrated to Kenya in 2020. All they wanted was to live a life full of adventure and Kenya popped up as the most suitable destination. They wanted to live the life they always saw other vlogging couples living far away from home and they did it.
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Who is Dave Mani?
Dave Mani is a Canadian national who lived in Kenya since 2020. He left Canada for Nairobi with Tracey who he married in 2018 after dating her for three years. The couple had a shared dream of starting a life far from home. Some of the people they followed on social media challenged them to make their dreams a reality.
Canadian couple Dave Mani and his wife Tracey Mani immigrated to Kenya from Canada in 2020. They left the country after four years to become full-time nomads. Photo/Dave Mani
Mani landed a job in Nairobi, a two-year contract starting in 2020 which was later extended by another two years. He fell in love with Nairobi due to the city’s promising business and leisure setting. This Kenyan capital is reputed for its versatility as a regional business hub and a top tourist destination. It’s one of the few cities in the world with a globally known national park in the vicinity. The famous Nairobi National Park stretches from one corner of the city to the outskirts of the capital.
Combined with an industrious populace, Nairobi’s unapologetic work and play aura gave Mani more than one reason to write his life’s next chapter. The 35-year-old’s arrival to Kenya quickly assimilated with the unending adventure from the coast to the remote northern parts of Kenya. In just a year, the couple won Kenya’s Leisure Influencers of the Year 2021 award.
What Did Mani do in Kenya?
He had a 9 – 5, Monday to Friday formal job in Nairobi. However, his evenings and weekends for the last four years were dedicated to travelling every inch of the country with Tracey. The Canadian and his wife built a successful vlogging brand mostly targeting expats on what to expect in Kenya, its beauty, the good, the bad and the ugly. They christened it The Dave Mani its intent being telling a Kenyan story of travel, adventure and food to the rest of the world.
“Our goal is to show you the world and inspire you to take the path less travelled because this is where your adventure begins,” their YouTube bio reads. Tracey and her husband travelled across Kenya and captured each moment which they shared with their followers twice every week. Their YouTube channel kept their followers abreast with their travel escapades with new videos on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Below are the famous tourist destinations they visited in Kenya.
- Amboseli National Park
- Maasai Mara
- Mombasa
- Lamu
- Watamu
- Tsavo
- Kisumu
- Eldoret
Canadian couple Dave Mani and his wife Tracey Mani immigrated to Kenya from Canada in 2020. They left the country after four years to become full-time nomads. Photo/Dave Mani
They also travelled abroad to Cameroon, Singapore, Bahrain, Kribi, Thailand, Switzerland, Namibia, and South Africa while living permanently in Kenya. Every trip they made in the 1,431 days they lived in Nairobi was documented. The couple always fascinated their followers with their love for Kenyan cuisine usually accompanied by its cultural significance. African food has a cultural significance to it which also dictates how it should be prepared.
Is He CIA?
Dave Mani isn’t an agent with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as alluded to by several quarters. He came to Nairobi with no idea what Kenya was like but wanted to satisfy his urge to make memories in Africa. An X user sparked a debate by telling his followers that Mani could be a CIA spy posing as a travel and lifestyle content creator.
The Kenyan tweep hypothesized that Mani could be like CIA spy Darell Blocker who collected classified information in Uganda by posing as a band artist. However, the Canadian vlogger satirically extinguished this rumour with a post on his X page stating “You got me! I am a CIA agent even though I am Canadian! I specialize in infiltrating safari camps around and beach resorts in Africa!”
Why Did Mani Leave Kenya?
Dave Mani, a Canadian vlogger who lived in Kenya for four years and launched a successful travel content brand. Photo/Dave Mani
He explained that his life changed so much in the last four years he lived in Kenya with incredible memories of places, people and food. They decided with Tracey to become full-time travel nomads and head out to the less visited African countries.
“Before moving to Kenya, we knew nothing, zero about this country. We came in blind with a lot of hope and aspirations and four years later, we’re blown away to see what we have built,” he thankfully said.
“Our goal is to go round the world, tell new stories,” he added noting Bali is off his list as a soon-to-be nomad. “I love Africa, like you know I wonna go to places where most travellers don’t go. I wonna inspire people to go to new destinations.”
